A Funeral
by apprenticeassassin
Summary: ...or two. A century or so after VWII, the last of the student heroes dies. At his funeral, two children stumble across two very different graves...very very AU.


Disclaimer: Anything remotely recognizable belongs to JKRowling…

edit: ...and Charles Dickens...thank you duj for pointing out that glaring omission...

A Funeral

The graveyard is massive, and crowded. It houses all the dead of the wizarding world. Well, all the dead bodies...er...remains, that is. Ghosts obey no living man, and the graveyard - oddly enough - has no regular haunters.

In the walled center lies the massive memorials and dedications to the most honoured dead - all of whom are buried, not with family plots, but here in the central complex.

Today it seems as if the entirety of Wizarding Britain has flooded into the field, here to honor another hero. Harry Potter, at a late age of 172 years, is buried next to his 2 friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger-Weasley, who passed but a few year before their companion. Of those who fought in the 2nd Voldemort War, they have the most prominent memorials, standing near the centre of the field. There are also the other graves dedicated to those who fought with them. Albus Dumbledor's tombstone is an iridescent white, almost rivaling those of the Golden Trio. Beside them lie Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginevra Weasley, also buried under white plaques.

Most of those who had survived the second Voldemort War tried to forget the last two warriors buried there, which left the northernmost point of the walled enclosure filled mostly by younger families, adults 30 or 40 years of age and their children, who yawned and fidgeted as politicians and teachers waxed poetic about some old dead guy.

It was just such a young child - a boy of perhaps 7 or 8 years of age - who discovered the 2 simplest of gravestones within the wall. The dark haired child pulled at his friend's sleeve until the blond boy turned to find out what had captured his friend's attention. Their parents watched out of the corner of their eyes, but as the two boys were keeping out of mischief, and a bit of natural curiosity would not hurt them, they allowed the boys to huddle around whatever it was that had caught their interest.

The simple black obsidian slabs lay unnoticed by any others, flush against the ground, engraved with silver enchanted to shift hypnotically from silver to a tarnished green and back.

_LUCIUS ABRAXAS MALFOY_

"_It is a far far better thing I do now, then I have ever done before"_

_1954 - 1998_

_SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE_

"_It is a far far better rest I go to now, then I have ever slept before"_

_1959 - 1998_

In the brief silence the two boys looked up and in the split second they could have sworn they heard voices. Not those of the revered Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, but of two children in the far distance. The laughter eventually faded, to be replaced with sombre tones that reminded them of the old Aurors that had visited the local school just last month...

As the rest of the wizarding world heard the last words of an old hero, the two boys listened to the voices of two men long dead and almost forgotten.

"You know Lucius, we've been double agents for twenty-odd years now, and you still have yet to tell me why exactly you decided to turn traitor."

"Really Severus? Haven't I?"

"No need to sound so innocent. Contrary to common knowledge, I of all people do actually know better."

A rich, if slightly hollow, laugh sounded, "Well, dear friend, you've been less than forthcoming with your reasons so I'm hardly alone in this...Merlot?"

"Hm. True. I'd prefer the Cabernet Sauvignon if it's still available."

"Hm, yes. Probably."

The silence dragged on, both boys holding their breath. When the two men who's imprints they were listening to finally sighed - almost in unison - the children echoed them.

"What is there to say anymore Lucius? There wasn't much to begin with. We have been through it all together...in a separated manner. I don't know whether I hate you or l..." the deep voice hesitated, then rushed on, as if deciding there really was nothing to lose"....love you for what you have done to yourself."

"L...love," both men seemed to stutter, as if they had never actually said the word before. "Hate. Severus, the emotions are there, but how can I be sure of what I feel if I don't even know who or what I am anymore?"

"You are Lucius Abraxas Malfoy. Pureblood. Politician. Death Eater, Murderer, Azkaban escapee. Father, friend. Traitor and spy."

"Yes, and you are Severus Tobias Snape. Half-blood. Potion's Master, poison's master. Death Eater, assassin. Friend. Traitor and spy. But what are we when we aren't spies? Right here, right now, what are we?"

"We are what we are. Spies don't have the luxury of being anything other than what we hate." The two children could almost hear the realization dawn on the man, "Lucius, are you asking me what we _could_ have been?"

"Could have been? Perhaps...Severus, could you have created the cure for lycanthropy? The Wolfsbane Potion always seemed like little more than a stepping stone..."

A sigh. "In any other day and age? Any other place? Yes, probably. And you could have been the greatest of Ministers. Had there been no Albus Dumbledor and no Dark Lord.... But as it was, we were needed to be as we have become."

The conversation stopped and the children gazed wide-eyed at each other, before being shocked back into the past as the conversation began as abruptly as it had paused.

"Severus...what do you think they will say of us in 200 years?"

"So long as they are free to say it Lucius, I frankly, don't give a damn."

As their hollow laughter fill the boys' ears, the rest of the world shifted again. They became aware of thunderous applause as Harry Potter's last imprint vanished to join his friends.

"You know, I think I might've like them." The blond said, turning to his friend, "What do you think Alex?"

Alexander Steven Prince turned to his best friend, "Dunno Sy. I think it would've been nice to meet them."

"Meh, whatever. What's done is done. I'm gonna look 'em up once we get back to hogwart's though. Yeah. Snape...wasn't he a Headmaster?

"Yeah!" Syalrius Alban Black frowned as he tried to recall exactly what may have been mentioned in passing, but even his sharp Ravenclaw mind couldn't remember such fleeting mentions.

Behind then, in the now empty graveyard, two epitaphs shifted and new words formed before blurring back to the original engravings. Slowly a pattern emerged, a flow from one epitaph to another. One given by knowledgeable strangers, and the other by the dead themselves.

_LUCIUS ABRAXAS MALFOY_

_Pureblood. Politician. Death Eater, Murderer, Azkaban escapee. Father, friend. Traitor and spy._

_SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE_

_Half-blood. Potion's Master, poison's master. Death Eater, assassin. Friend. Traitor and spy._

**Fiat.**

and that's that. first piece of fanfiction put out. A random set of scenes that occured to me when I unearthed a bunch of really old stuff (as demonstrated by exactly how AU this is...) that will never again see the light of day...this is a much improved version of what I suspect was supposed to be an epilogue of some story or other...needless to say I don't have a clue what led up to this point as I'm not posting it...Feel free to click the little button marked 'review' and drop a few ideas...or write them yourselves!

apprenticeassassin


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